History of Dorwest Herbs

Dorwest Herbs was established in 1948 and today is still based in the lovely county of Dorset. Over the past fifty-nine years our company has grown into an enterprise which is acknowledged as the authoritative company in the field of veterinary herbal medicine. We manufacture a professional range of veterinary herbal medicines and natural dietary supplements. We are members of the Natural Medicines Society and the National Office of Animal Health. Dorwest is still very much a family business today and is owned and managed by Tony and Mary Boughton, with the third generation of the family represented by their son Roly and daughter Joanna who both work for the company. Dogs and their welfare have always been a part of Tony's life - his grandfather was a veterinary surgeon and his father bred, showed and trained working dogs. For over 20 years Tony was the 'face of Dorwest', attending all the Ch. Shows with the Dorwest trade stand and he now acts as product advisor, lecturing to dog clubs throughout the country and overseas, and is also the company's outside events co-ordinator. The Dorwest trade stand is now run by Brian and Carmel Cleveley who are embedded in the dog world and very familiar to all dog showing people. Mary's background and upbringing was concerned with the actual herbs themselves - their identification, properties and therapeutic uses. Her expertise nowadays is concentrated on the quality controls applied to herbal medicines and liaising with our overseas distributors. She lectures on the subject to vets and students around the world and has become the UK's specialist on the standards applied to the production of veterinary herbal medicines. Roly came to the company following a career in design and printing and is now responsible for the promotion and advertising of the Dorwest range. From her background as a consultant scientist, Joanna is now responsible for the technical, scientific and regulatory issues involved in the company's production of medicines.

We are unique in that we are the only company producing herbal products who have total control over all the processes involved in their production - the plants used are personally checked in the fields during their growth, the dried herbs tested for purity and potency, fully monitored during their incorporation into the tablets and finally tested for stability throughout their shelf life. This attention to detail ensures that the finished product maintains the quality of ingredients and so will be effective in use for the treatment of canine and feline illnesses.

TONY BOUGHTON
Director

Tony will be well known to many of you as he was the “face of Dorwest” at the Championship Dog Shows for over 20 years. Now office based, Tony is our senior advisor and has a wealth of experience with dogs. He advises customers on the most appropriate natural treatment for their animals as well as giving advice on natural feeding regimes and breed specific problems. Tony is also the President of the Guild of Canine Trades. He has two Whippets at the moment but has been involved with working dogs all of his life, particularly with German Shepherds and Lurchers, but also has a great interest in sight hounds in general.

MARY BOUGHTON, MBE
Director

Mary has been responsible for Regulatory Affairs for Dorwest for many years, and this involves dealing with the medicines regulations with which our products comply. She is the Quality Control director for Dorwest Herbs and so responsible for setting the quality of all our products and seeing that it is maintained and consistent. She is also the point of contact for our Export distributors in the 20 overseas countries where our range is available. She is Chairman of the National Office of Animal Health’s (NOAH) Companion Animal Sub-committee and is involved with a number of other business organisations. Mary is the author of the book “Herbal Medicine for Dogs” which was published in 2004. She has a Border Terrier called Harris whose nickname is Monkey, because he is! Mary was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s 2005 Birthday Honours List.

ROLY BOUGHTON
Promotions Manager

Roly has been with the company since 1998 and is responsible for our advertising campaigns and marketing. He is also a product advisor on our Advice Line with a particular interest in working dogs and animal behavioral problems.He has been involved with dogs and Dorwest since he was old enough to hold a lead and bred his first litter of Border Terriers at 11 years old. He has an interest in rare breeds of dogs and has spent time in mainland europe at various breed specialty and European shows. Before joining the family business Roly travelled extensively in Australia and New Zealand and previously worked in graphic design, printing and customer service. He is passionate about the countryside and all aspects of rural life. He currently owns two Lurchers, ferrets, chickens and a cat.

JOANNA BOUGHTON-WHITE, BSc, MSc
Technical Manager

Following University and a career working as a scientist for a international environmental consultancy Joanna joined the family business six years ago.
She is responsible for all the technical aspects of product production including formulations, microbiology, licensing and pharmacovigilance. She also takes care of the accounts and human resources for the company. In 2004 Jo was the top student of the Animal Medicines Training Regulatory Authority Companion Animal Medicines (GSL) Sales Staff Examination. She is crazy about Whippets and has three dogs, Stanley, Archie and Peggy-Sue; is a committee member of the South West Whippet Club and a member of the Kennel Club. She keeps fit walking the dogs, going to the gym, and skiing whenever she has the opportunity.

HEATHER BISHOP
Operations Manager

Heather came to Dorwest in 1995 when we established our own in-house medicines production unit. This followed her career in the herbal medicine industry where she gained wide experience of healthcare and medicines production in a number of major UK healthcare companies. She has extensive experience of herbs and of the controls and procedures that are so necessary to ensure that our products are produced to the highest standards. She oversees the production staff who are involved in the manufacture of our range to ensure that all operations are carried out in accordance with our Standard Operating Procedures and following Good Manufacturing Practice. In fact everything that takes place at our Dorwest Packaging site is under Heather’s guidance and control. Her interests include travelling overseas, music, food and enjoying the Dorset countryside. She and her husband Brian, our QA Manager, have two black Miniature Poodles called Lola and Lily.

BRIAN BISHOP
Quality Assurance Manager

Following a career in the British Army, Brian became involved in the herbal medicine industry over 20 years ago. He was employed by various herbal healthcare companies in various production roles and also in the establishing and maintaining of their quality assurance systems. Brian’s deep practical knowledge of individual herbs enables him to ensure that the quality of Dorwest products is maintained and meets modern pharmaceutical standards. He also runs our laboratory where he supervises ingredient testing, finished product standards, stability records and the microbiology monitoring of the products. Brian’s main passion is history and books but he also enjoys golf, motor sports and getting out into the countryside at every opportunity.

BECKY ENGLAND
Customer Accounts Manager

Becky joined Dorwest in 1999 and during that time has worked in customer service, telephone sales and order processing. Becky has been part of our Crufts team for several years and in the office deals with orders going to our Export Customers and using her contacts with a number of shipping agents is able to ensure that the goods we send all over the world are sent by the most reliable and safest couriers available. Becky’s interests are horses, walking in the countryside and retail therapy!

HANNAH SLATER
Veterinary sales and product advisor

Since originally joining Dorwest as a Customer Service assistant in 2003, Hannah is now the person responsible for liaising with veterinary practices, updating our pharmaceutical and clinical data and running our “Get Trained” training scheme for vet nurses and pet shop staff.

Hannah also carries out research into new products and initiatives, and having successfully undertaken a range of small animal courses, is also able to advise customers on healthcare issues and how Dorwest’s product range can be of help. Hannah has been part of our BSAVA and Crufts team for several years. Hannah’s interests all focus on animals - from horses and her dogs Ralph and Ben, to her collection of chickens! She spends much of her spare time riding out at the local racing yard.

FRANCESCA MARKS
Trade sales and customer advisor

Fran joined Dorwest straight from college in 2004 and has become a very efficient member of our customer service team She is the contact point for all our trade customers, making sure that orders are dispatched promptly, that point of sale material is received and dealing with customer account queries. She works closely with Steve Jones our Sales Representative to make sure that our trade customers receive all the help they need. She has been part of our team at Crufts over the last few years. Fran is the proud owner of 'Alfie' the Old English Sheepdog who keeps her very busy!

VICKI BOWLER
Office Assistant

Vicki is the newest member of our office staff having joined us in may 2008. She has recently returned from one and a half years travelling around Asia and Australia. She lived in the jungle in Sri Lanka where she was doing volunteer work with elephants - feeding them, washing them and even riding them. Now back to earth in the Dorwest office she will be the person you first speak to when you call us. She is responsible for making sure that everyone else in the office has everything they need to carry out there work and generally see that that office runs smoothly.

STEVE JONES
Sales Representative
Southern England

Steve Jones looks after all our retail outlets in the South of England and has been with the company since 2002 having been involved with the pet industry for the last 30 years. He previously worked for a number of veterinary pharmaceutical companies and so has a great depth of knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and a wealth of experience in the pet retail trade. He is a familiar figure in pet shops, grooming parlors and veterinary practices and advises on both products, promotions and point of sale items so as to help retailers maximise their sales. Based in Devon, Steve’s interests include restoring old cottages and classic cars and his passion is Formula One racing which gives him the opportunity to travel and when possible also to race!

THERESA PRIDDLE
Dispatch Co-ordinator

Theresa originally joined Dorwest in the production department and is now in charge of our busy mail order department. Whether an order is being mailed to an individual customer, sent out to a veterinary practice or pet shop or is a large consignment being sent to one of our overseas distributors, Theresa makes sure that the goods are correctly dispatched, arrive as quickly as possible and reach you in good condition.